Rename and Increment Files with Bash Topic:GNU/Linux   Date: 2008-08-24 Printer Friendly:   Mobile View:

Doing a visual audit of a data center with a digital camera is a quick and easy way to help get your bearings when assisting remote hands. We have a bunch of pictures we took of our server racks. Notice that some pictures that weren't very good are already deleted:

$ ls IMG_0918.JPG IMG_0925.JPG IMG_0931.JPG IMG_0940.JPG IMG_0922.JPG IMG_0926.JPG IMG_0932.JPG IMG_0945.JPG IMG_0923.JPG IMG_0927.JPG IMG_0938.JPG IMG_0946.JPG IMG_0924.JPG IMG_0930.JPG IMG_0939.JPG IMG_0947.JPG

Using a simple bash script, we can rename these and put them in order:

$ for i in *.JPG; do let j+=1 ; mv $i datacentershots$j.jpg ; done $ ls datacentershots1.jpg datacentershots13.jpg datacentershots2.jpg datacentershots6.jpg datacentershots10.jpg datacentershots14.jpg datacentershots3.jpg datacentershots7.jpg datacentershots11.jpg datacentershots15.jpg datacentershots4.jpg datacentershots8.jpg datacentershots12.jpg datacentershots16.jpg datacentershots5.jpg datacentershots9.jpg $

As long as we keep the shell open, the increment variable, j, will let us add pictures and continue where we left off:

$ set | tail -n 1 j=16 $

Alternatively, if we want to start numbering the pictures at 5, we could set j and run the script again:

$ export j=4 $ for i in *.JPG; do let j+=1 ; mv $i datacentershots$j.jpg ; done $ ls datacentershots10.jpg datacentershots14.jpg datacentershots18.jpg datacentershots6.jpg datacentershots11.jpg datacentershots15.jpg datacentershots19.jpg datacentershots7.jpg datacentershots12.jpg datacentershots16.jpg datacentershots20.jpg datacentershots8.jpg datacentershots13.jpg datacentershots17.jpg datacentershots5.jpg datacentershots9.jpg $

Let's take the same set of pictures but create a smaller version with a width of 600 pixels so it dosn't overrun the screen:

$ ls IMG_0918.JPG IMG_0925.JPG IMG_0931.JPG IMG_0940.JPG IMG_0922.JPG IMG_0926.JPG IMG_0932.JPG IMG_0945.JPG IMG_0923.JPG IMG_0927.JPG IMG_0938.JPG IMG_0946.JPG IMG_0924.JPG IMG_0930.JPG IMG_0939.JPG IMG_0947.JPG

$ export j=0 $ for i in *.JPG; do let j+=1 ; convert -scale 600 $i datacentershotssm$j.jpg ; mv $i datacentershotslg$j.jpg ; done $ $ ls datacentershotslg1.jpg datacentershotslg5.jpg datacentershotssm15.jpg datacentershotslg10.jpg datacentershotslg6.jpg datacentershotssm16.jpg datacentershotslg11.jpg datacentershotslg7.jpg datacentershotssm2.jpg datacentershotslg12.jpg datacentershotslg8.jpg datacentershotssm3.jpg datacentershotslg13.jpg datacentershotslg9.jpg datacentershotssm4.jpg datacentershotslg14.jpg datacentershotssm1.jpg datacentershotssm5.jpg datacentershotslg15.jpg datacentershotssm10.jpg datacentershotssm6.jpg datacentershotslg16.jpg datacentershotssm11.jpg datacentershotssm7.jpg datacentershotslg2.jpg datacentershotssm12.jpg datacentershotssm8.jpg datacentershotslg3.jpg datacentershotssm13.jpg datacentershotssm9.jpg datacentershotslg4.jpg datacentershotssm14.jpg $

The images with lg are the original large images. The images with sm are scalled to 600 pixels across.